Ritterhouse, Jennifer,Growing Up Jim Crow: The Racial
Socialization of Black and White Southern Children, 1890–
1940 , University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
Russell, Dick,Black Genius and the American Experience,
Basic Books, 1998.
Walker, Margaret, ‘‘Lineage,’’ inThis Is My Century:
New and Collected Poems, University of Georgia Press,
1989, p. 21.
———,Richard Wright, Daemonic Genius: A Portrait of
the Man, a Critical Look at His Work, Amistad, 1993.
———, ‘‘Southern Song: An Interview with Margaret
Walker,’’ by Lucy M. Freibert, inFrontiers: A Journal
of Women Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3, 1987, pp. 50–6.
———, ‘‘A Writer for Her People: An Interview with Dr.
Margaret Walker Alexander,’’ by Jerry W. Ward, Jr., in
Mississippi Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 4, Fall 1998, pp. 515–27.
Further Reading
Berke, Nancy,Women Poets on the Left: Lola Ridge,
Genevieve Taggard, Margaret Walker, University Press
of Florida, 2001.
Topics covered in this study of these three female
poets include the Great Depression, the Great
Migration, race discrimination, and the lives of
the working class. Berke uses these women’s
poetry as a starting point for a discussion of the
social, historical, and political context of the times
in which they wrote—the first half of the twentieth
century.
Boehm, Lisa Krissoff,Making a Way out of No Way:
African American Women and the Second Great Migra-
tion, University Press of Mississippi, 2009.
The Second Great Migration was a mass move-
ment of about five million African Americans
from the South to the North beginning in the
1940s. Boehm has collected stories from black
women in this group, a segment that has in the
past been overlooked.
Carmichael, Jacqueline Miller,Trumpeting a Fiery Sound:
History and Folklore in Margaret Walker’s ‘‘Jubilee,’’Uni-
versity of Georgia Press, 2003.
Carmichael deconstructs Walker’s novel, laying
open not only the story itself and its critical
reception but also Walker’s process of writing
and rewriting, the underlying structure, and
narrative techniques. Also discussed are the his-
tory and folklore that makeJubileesuch a rich
and truthful novel.
Dennis, Denise,Black History for Beginners, For Beginners,
2007.
Dennis provides a comprehensive overview for
those who are new to the study of black history.
From slaves abducted from Africa to the civil
rights movement, this book will help readers
understand some of the more significant histor-
ical events for the black race.
Graham, Maryemma, ed.,Conversations with Margaret
Walker, University Press of Mississippi, 2002.
In this book is a collection of interviews of
Margaret Walker, covering the years 1972 to- One of the interviews includes a dialogue
between Walker and the famed poet Nikki
Giovanni in which Walker discusses her rela-
tions with her family. Other topics include
Walker’s relationship with the novelist Richard
Wright as well as insights into Walker’s writing
process and her love of history and language.
Moody, Anne,Coming of Age in Mississippi,Delta,2004.
In this autobiography, the author relates what
life was like for her in the Deep South almost
one hundred years after the Civil War but
before the victories of the civil rights movement.
Lineage